Tuesday, January 1, 2013

I don't make new year's resolutions. I am not sure why. I suspect it is because people tend to express wishes with no real plan to attain them with resolutions. I do tend to make goals. They tend to be small, sometimes silly, sometimes they are steps towards larger plans.

I thought I would write a few of them down here so I can peek at them, and see how I am doing.

They aren't in any particular order, I'd be writing this for weeks if I had to determine which items are the most important.

Make better pictures than last year. This is a subjective goal, but there are objective and measurable ways to achieve it. First I will revisit the fundamentals ( as always, they are key ). I will then try to add a technique those I know so well I can do it without thinking about it. (Unassessable really. I did learn a lot of different ways to convert B&W photos. I am more confident than before in a few other areas, so I suppose this is a success)

Play more Go. Go is part game, part martial art, part visual art, part mental workout, and despite all that it is fun. I didn't study it at all in 2012 -- and played very very little. A couple years ago I could probably hold my own against AGA shodan players. Steps towards this... start adding games on either Dragon Go Server, Online Go Server, and potentially resurrecting my account at KGS. I also need to study-- I will probably be trounced by people my "own" level if I don't. This did not happen.

Play better Guitar. This one is easy, I'm such a beginner all I have to do here is continue to practice. Yeah, just playing every day increased my abilities.

Attend a live musical performance.Attended "Enter the Haggis" at the Mount. I am still keeping an eye out for other chances to do this.

Buy food from a farmers market or roadside stand.There is a farmers market outside of my workplace on Wednesdays. I have gotten a few things there.

Learn a new recipe. Beer Can Chicken, Pickles

Continue reading. This year was an outlier year in terms of how much I have read. I kept track, for the most part, on Goodreads. According to that record I have read 22 to books this year totaling almost 9000 pages. I have read more than, because I didn't start good reads until later in the year, and I doubt my back logging was perfect. I think this entails keeping the current status quo-- and trying to add more novels read out loud to the kids. We are currently going through the Hobbit.I did continue reading. It was about the same amount as last year. I recorded them on Goodreads.

Read and think about at least one Bible verse a morning. I know I've missed mornings this year. Timing matters.I spades. I probably read through the most of the Bible. Certain books are completely missing ( like Revelation ), but other than that at least a verse from each one I think.

Make a little video. Um, so, yeah, one of the reasons I bought my D800 instead of a second D700 was to make videos. So, did I do one yet? No. Do I have excuses? Of course. Are they valid? Excuses never are. I made one here.

Manage money better. There was once a time when my records were always perfectly reconciled versus bank statements. This is no longer the case. I feel like I may miss chances with this. Of course, I have a general idea what is where and how much, and so on-- I haven't been negligent. But, I haven't been perfect. However, it is quite a stress free doing it this way -- I haven't had to chase 36 cents around paperwork for hours just to find out it was a data entry error on my part! This one is easy too, just start keeping track of stuff closely again. I decided this actually wasn't that important to me.

This is closely related with the previous one, make a long term investment.

Update this post as things get accomplished? Not sure if I'll do this or not. But, maybe.

Complete at least one miniature or model. I have quite a few unfinished miniatures and models. I can't remember the last time I finished one, but I know it wasn't in 2012. I thought about doing this a few times. But didn't. I assembled a quite a few, but no priming, painting, or finishing. Alas.

I may add more goals through the year. But this is enough for now.

I will also grow a little garden plot this year. I did not list this here earlier because I wasn't sure I would have the time. I have determined that I do not have the time, but I am doing it anyway.

I should also note these are personal goals that only deal with me. I have others that deal with my approach to the people and world around me-- I just haven't listed them here.